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AUTOMATI AGAR BRAKE. 1

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No.361g089.

INVENTOR @G25/@m 'BY 2M WIT NESSES ATTORNEY N. PETERS. Phamhognplm. Walhingn. DAC.

f STATES PATENT OFFICE.v

CHARLES SELDEN, OFST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

AUTOMATIC V(JAR-BRAKE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 361,089, dated April 12, 1880..

' Application tiled December 29, 1883. Serial No. 115,901. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES SELDEN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of St. Louis, Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Car- Brakes, of which the following is a specification. y

Myinvention relates to automatic'brakes of the kind in which air or steam'undcrthe control of the locomotive-engineer is employed for automatically applying the brakes on the cars of the train.

My invention is intended more particularly for application to the wellknown automatic air-brake now in use, and is designed to give a double control of the brake to the engineer, so that in case the means now ordinarily employed fail to produce the desired effects of ap -y plying the brakes on the cars or of lletting them off he may resort to the auxiliary devices supplied by my invention. A well-known difficulty in the operation of automatic brakes is the frequent inability of the engineer by the means ordinarily at hand to unset the brakes after a train' has been brought to a stop, thus causing much delay and necessitating the turning by hand of a relief valve or cock connected with the air-reservoir under each car to release the brake. My invention entirely overcomes this difficulty. My invention consists in controlling the operation of the brakes on each car by electromagnets in a circuit extending through the train and suitable cocks or valves operated' by said electro-magnets for letting od the airpressure at the proper parts of the apparatus on the car, so as to either set or release the brake according to the magnet that is operated. Suitable circuit controlling keys or other devices on the engine put it in the power of the engineer to apply or release the brakes by means of such electro-magnets.

My invention consists, also, in the combination, with the usual auxiliary air-reservoir upon a caryof an electro-magnet for controlling the relief-cock of said reservoir, an electric circuit containing said magnet and extending to the locomotive, and a circuit-controller upon the locomotive, whereby in case the brake lshould become accidentally set it may be released by the operation of said magnet and other detail of construction.

the consequent opening ofthe usual cock connected with the auxiliary reservoir.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating my invention. Fig. 2 is a detail of construction ofthe train-signaling apparatus in conjunction with which I'prefer to employ my invention. Fig. 3 shows an- Fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating in detail the circuits of the cable and magnets.

, A indicates the usual air-brake pipe,extending through the train, through which pipe air under pressure is stored in the auxiliary reservoir B.

^ C* indicates the usual brake`- cylinder, by means ofwhich air supplied from the auxiliary reservoir is made to apply the brakes whenever there is alessening of the air-press ure in the brake-pipe.V4

C indicates a/ny usual or properstop-cook on the auxiliary reservoir, which may open a vent for the escape of air, so that the brakes .may be unset in the well-known manner, and y D is an electro-magnet of any proper construction, whose armature or movable core is connected with the operating mechanism or handle of the stop cock or valve in such way that when the magnet is energized or de-energized, as the case may be, said stop-cock will be operated so as to release the brakes.

C indicates another stop cock or valve, of

any desired construction, connected withsome portion of the air pipes, valves, or automatic valve-chambers on the ear, in which a relief of air-pressure will cause the brakes to be applied. I have herein shown it as connected with the air-supply pipe extending through the train.

The cock G is also under the control of an electro-magnet, D', so that it also may be operated by said electro-magnet. The electro-magnets are placed in a circuit extending through the train and connected with a suitable battery or generator, G, placed on the train, preferably on the locomotivetender, which battery is in the present instance also the battery for a train-signaling apparatus. The circuits of the magnet are made byatlexible or other eonductor,which may, if desired, be constructed in sections, to be united at the ends of the cars when the train is made up, after the manner employed in electrical trainsignaling apparatus. The return 'circuit is,

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by preference, made, as usual, by connecting to the running-gear of the car or locomotive and so to the rails. The manner of constructing the circuit is, however, immaterial.

r1`he circuits of magnets D D are indicated, respectively, by the figures 1 and 2, and each circuit is controlled by a key, circuit-closer, or other suitable device, K or K', which latter are placed on the locomotive and are readily accessible to the engineer or lireman. By the operation of key K, the circuit of battery G and magnet D is closed, and the latter is thus made to open the cock or valve C, so as to allow the air to escape from the auxiliary reservoir, thus releasing the brake in well-known manner. The operation of key K similarly causes magnet D' to open cock or valve C', thus permitting a rclicf of air-pressure in the air-brake pipe or other suitable portion of the apparatus in the car, so as to apply the brakes.

E E are electromagnetic signal-bells of ordinary construction in the circuits 1 and 2, which indicate to the engineer that the circuit is complete when the key is closed.

The conductors 1 2 may be insulated conductors and made up in a cable with a third insulated conductor, which forms the trainsignal conductors, the cable thus formed being also, as described in a prior application for patent filed by me April 2, 1883, No. 90,415, the usual mechanical device by which a bell upon the locomotive may be mechanically operated. Said third conductor also, as described in my applicationmentioned, affords a means whereby said bell may be operated electrically.

F indicates the cable, connected with the bell H so that a pull upon the cable will operate the bell mechanically, as usual.

Interposcd in said conductor 3 is a circuitbreaker of the form shown in Fig. 2, or of any other desired form, consisting ol' a hollow cylinder, P, made of conducting material at one end and of non-conducting material at the other, and having a metallic piston to which the cable on one side is connected, while to the cylinder at the opposite end the cable on the other side is connected. The piston-rod is connected to the conductor on one side and the metallic portion of the cylinder to the conductor on the other, as indicated, so that, as is obvious, a pull will break the circuit 3, and thus cause the magnet Min said circuit to lose its power, whereupon the armature of the latter will fall back and close the circuit to a magnet, M', whose armature is mechanically connected with the bell mechanism, so as to cause the bell to sound.

The cable F is herein indicated in Fig. 1 merely as a straight line, but the manner of combining the three separate wires or circuits 1 2 3 into a single cable, such circuits being at the same time kept insulated from 011e another, is very well understood in the art and need not be described more in detail. The separate wires or circuits are shown in Fig. 4.

It is sufcicnt to say that the circuit-3, containing the magnet which operates on the bell H, is carried throughout the train, and that in the same manner circuit l, controlled by a key on the locomotive and including magnets D, is carried through the train and kept separate from circuit 3 and also from the circuit 2, controlled also by an independent key and containing electromagnets D. At the points where the brake-magnets are interposed in the circuit suitable connections are made from the terminals ofsaid magnets to the said conductor by simply disconnecting the conductor from the cable atv the proper point and cutting the same so as to form terminals adapted for connection with the terminals, respectively, of the electro-magnet. The manner in which this may be done under one construction of the apparatus will be presently described.

lVhen the brake-controlling conductors l and 2 are combined with the conductor 3 in a cable, the circuitbreaker l? may be coustructed and the connection to the brakemagnet may be made as indicated in Fig. 1. In this case the cylinder ofthe circuit-breaker is provided with suitable insulated supports, m, which carry'or support an external cylinder, forming in turn a support for four binding-posts, as indicated in Fig. 1. The four binding-posts are insulated from one another by simply dividing the exterior cylinder transversely and longitudinally by proper insulating material, as indicated by the dark lines, Fig. 3. Two of said binding-posts-as, for instance, the upper posts-serve for attachment ofthe three ends of one of the conductors in the cable-as, for instance, the conductor forming the circuit 2. To the same -posts, Fig. 1, insulated from one another and from the upper posts, the free ends of the severed conductor forming circuit 1, leading from the transmitter K,are connected. The terminals ofelectro-magnet D are connected,respect ively, either to the two binding-posts or to the wires or connections running to the same from the insulated conductor embodied in the cable and forming the circuit 1.

The engineer being provided with the ordinary means now in use, the apparatus herein described furnishes him with an extra or supplemental control, which may be called into play at any time in case the usual means should fail to produce the proper operation of the brakes. For instance, if the brakes should fail to act on operating the ordinary mechanical devices on the locomotive, the engineer would IOO IIO

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' then operate the circuit-closer controlling the magnet D, thus allowing airto escape from the pipe beneath the cars on theY various cars themselves and causing the brakes to be ap-H plied in the same way that they would have been applied if a relief of air-pressure in the pipe had been effected by the operation of theordinary controlling-cock on the locomotive. In the same way, it' the brakes should not be released on turning the cock onthe locomotive to restore the pressure in the pipe, the en-Y gineer has simply to close the circuit of inagnet or magnets D, thus bleeding as it is ordinarily termed, the air-reservoirs on the cars, an operation that has ordinarily to be performed by some person or persons passing from car to car on the groundand opening the` de-energize the magnet on the car and permit` the retractor of the magnets armature to operate the stop-cock. The arrangement of the operating mechanism of the cock for this purpose is an obvious matter.

What I claim as my invention is- 1. In an automatic air-brake, the combination, with the air-brake apparatus upon the car constructed to apply and release the brake in the ordinary Way, of a suitable auxiliary cock or valve by the :opening of which the brake may be released, an electro-magnet controlling said 4cock or Valve, and aV circuit-controller upon the locomotive controlling the circuit of said magnet, as and for the purpose described.

2. The combination, with the usual auxiliary air-reservoir upon a car, of an electro-magnet for controlling the reliefcock of said reservoir, an electriccircuit containing said magnet and extending to the locomotive, and a circuit-controller upon the locomotive, whereby in case thebrake should becomeaccidentally set it may be released by the operation of said magnet and thc consequent opening of the usual cock connected with t-he auxiliary reservoir.

3. In an automatic air-brake, the combination, with the air-brake apparatus uponthe car constructed to apply and release the brake in the ordinary Way, of a suitable auxiliary vent-pipe connected with said air-brake apparatus, by the opening of which exit the brakes may be applied, an electro-magnet controlling said exit, and means upon the engine for controlling the circuit of the electro-magnet, whereby, through the operation of said magnet, the brakes may be set in case they should fail to work by the operation of the cock or valve upon the locomotive in the usual way, "as and for the purpose described.

4. In an automatic air-brake, the combination, with thelair-brake apparatus upon the car constructed to apply and release the brake in the ordinary way through relief and increase of air-pressure in the pipe leading to the locomotive, of an auxiliary vent-pipe upon the car and a magnet controlling the same for permitting the brake to be applied by the action of a suitable circuit-controlling device iu a circuit extending through the train.

' 5. Thev combination, in a railway air-brake apparatus, of two electric train-circuits, a magnet in one circuit controlling a valve by which the brakes of a car may be applied and a magnet in the other controlling independently a valve by which the brakes may be released. Signed at Toledo, in the county of Lucas and State of Ohio, this 14th day of December, A. D. 1883.

ori-ARLES sELDE-N. 

